It's Not Your Fault
by Fueled By Dr. Pepper
Summary: There is not always a place to lay the blame. 821 words. One-shot.


**A/N: Just something I thought up after reading an epic Klaine fic. (Hint: it should be at the top of my favorites list.)

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**Kurt didn't know what he was doing there. Somehow, he had ended up in the locker room arguing with Dave Karofsky. It was the worst form of déjà vu. Dave was thrashing about. Kurt felt a terrifying anxiety rising as remembered the last time he was in this locker room with a Dave that had been pushed too far.

But this time was different. Dave imploded instead of exploding. He sat, crumpled onto the floor, missing the bench completely. He seemed much smaller to Kurt and much more fragile.

"I just don't know what to do anymore. I haven't since . . . that day. I've been doing whatever comes to mind without thinking about it. You think that's scary for you? I didn't even realize I had threatened to kill you until the next period."

Kurt was at a loss. He couldn't keep up with the fast paced changing of whims without getting whiplash. He found his words and just spilled them out before the tides could change again.

"What do you expect, David? That your lack of malicious intent is supposed to just smooth over everything so we can fulfill whatever disillusioned, perverted fantasies you've cooked up all this time?"

Dave looked up at him.

"Perverted? That's what you think?"

Kurt prepared himself to run once he saw Dave stand up.

"I would have cherished you. I would have held you close and kissed you softly – nothing like that first time – and you would have been the best thing in my life. And that scared me to think about. It still scares me."

There was a heavy silence that hung in the air.

"But that doesn't matter, does it? Because I messed up. I've messed up so bad," Kurt began to worry again when Dave started pacing, "and I need to make up for my mistakes."

He threw himself against the lockers and kept himself pressed there. Kurt almost reached out to comfort him but the fear stopped him.

"Maybe I should start that. Maybe I should do to myself what I was stupid enough to threaten you with."

Kurt looked at Dave's white knuckles, tight with rage. He hated Dave in a lot of ways but he would never wish that on him. He shouldn't have to save him but he could.

"Don't say that. Don't even think about it. You're not . . . it's not . . ."

Dave turned his head, forehead still touching the cold metal of the door, "What? It's not right? What any one thing about me is right?"

"I don't know. I don't. But this is . . . it's stupid. Killing yourself because you're gay, because you've been a jerk, because there won't be an "us" is just stupid. You can always just move on and grow. You can't come back from that decision, Karofsky."

Dave pushed himself off from the lockers.

"Don't tell me what to do, Hummel."

He began to walk out of the locker room. Kurt couldn't hold him back but he knew even now, Dave was beyond throwing him around.

"Get out of the way."

"No, you're unstable and I will not have your life on my conscience for the rest of mine."

Dave rubbed his face, apparently just as frustrated as Kurt felt, "It's not your fault. Don't worry about me. I'll – I'll even beat you up so you can't stop me."

Kurt shook his head, "You wouldn't do that."

Dave started crying, "Don't talk to me like that! You don't know me. I don't know me. I don't know . . . I don't know anything anymore."

Kurt struggled to keep himself together in the situation. He searched from something to distract Dave with.

"Kiss me."

"What?"

Kurt stood up taller, "Kiss me. Once. Softly, like you said you would."

Dave's chest was still heaving with each breath though the sobs had stopped.

"I'm not going to wait here forever, David."

And suddenly, just like the first time, his hands were on Kurt's face. But they were much gentler, stroking the cheeks before he leaned in. His lips were trembling as they pressed against Kurt's. They moved slowly if not slightly clumsily. Kurt could feel Dave memorizing each moment of it, etching all the small details into the back of his mind.

When he pulled back, Kurt's tears flowed, "Now let me go. Leave everything before this kiss behind and just be the good guy you can be."

Dave went back to his locker and reached in. He placed something small wrapped in a handkerchief on the bench and left.

Kurt took a minute to gather his wits before reaching for it. He unwrapped it, noticing the D.L.K. embroidered on it, and saw the wedding topper that had been taken from him lying there. He held it close and cried for a minute before he freshened up and walked out of the locker room.


End file.
